The Other Side

by Kim Holden

Nina was already dead. And though my heart was still beating, so was I.

Guilt and me, we’re conjoined. One. When it isn’t stabbing me, I drag it around like a ball and chain.

I could replay insults for hours and never get a repeat because I have fifteen years’ worth of them in my memory bank courtesy of Marilyn Page.

A kiss should feel like you’ve been plunged into an abyss that you may never surface from, or it isn’t worth doing.

A great song is like catnip, a few notes can wind my insides up like a top, and always leaves me wanting more.

If you’re right, you don’t yell about it until you’re red in the face and someone believes you. Volume doesn’t change minds, it closes them.),

“The most important time to listen is when words are missing, that’s when hearts cry out the loudest.”

No one is supposed to see this. It’s supposed to remain hidden. My sadness is mine and it shouldn’t bleed all over anyone else.

“Every kiss eventually ends. The memory of them doesn’t. I’ll still feel that one when I’m ninety,”

“Some people aren’t worth fighting for, Toby. You’re not one of them. There are people we meet in this life who anchor us. They reassure us with their presence. They bring us comfort simply by being. They love by osmosis, radiating it out and diffusing it in effortlessly. Quietly, they walk among us, treading lightly but providing stability and influence because it’s second nature. The thing that’s so special about these people is that they don’t even know they’re doing it.”

“And depression isn’t about weakness, it’s about battling and wanting to deaden the pain, not the person.”

People aren’t perfect. It’s not about loving them when it’s easy and convenient; it’s about loving them even more when it’s hard.”

“The girl who sees the stars despite the clouds taught me to do the same. And it changed everything.”